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Have you ever walked around a city and truly looked at the urban landscape?

People are often too busy going about their day-to-day lives to take a sidestep from their predictable paths and walk into a new awareness of the city they live in or are visiting.

Psychogeography is the study of the influence of a geographical environment on the mind or on behaviour.

Melbourne author and psychogeographer Nick Gadd, in Sunraysia for a residency at Mildura Writers Festival, gave an insight into the geographical environment in the city.

He said psychogeography, invented in the 1950s, was used by artists and writers for various purposes and projects, but the one common aspect was that it involved exploring a city by foot.

Renovators of a red brick building in Pine Avenue, Mildura. kept links to the history of the building by continuing to display the Cottees signs.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Lauren Henry)

"Psychogeographers tend to take an interest in things that are obscure, perhaps lost, out of sight, neglected or overlooked, and use those as a window into other lives and other voices," he said.

"In a way it's about history, but it's about more than that.

"For me it's using it as a starting point for writing. You can think of it as part hunting and part time travel."

Gadd led a tour of historic signs across Mildura's CBD, which weaved its way down laneways and along Mildura's busy streets, calling for participants to look up and appreciate signs that might otherwise go unnoticed.

T and G Mutual Life Insurance Society built many double-storey buildings in regional cities like Mildura.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Lauren Henry)

Tour participants were required to look skywards to study the T and G Insurance building — a common sight in regional cities across Australia.

"T and G Insurance specialised in low-cost insurance for people with limited incomes," Gadd said.

"They had an interesting strategy, which was in the 1920s they would build big buildings that look pretty much the same across Australia.

"They always wanted to have the most impressive building in town, always with a tower and pyramid on top, and with the signage T and G prominently on display.

"They made architecture and signage part of their business plan.

"They claimed the city as part of the T and G empire. So although this building seems like a highlight, it is actually not that special.

"There are lots of other things a lot more special in Mildura because, frankly, everyone has a T and G building."

Signs in Pine Avenue encouraging people to eat lemons and oranges, an integral industry in the Sunraysia region, were actually a catalyst for Gadd visiting Mildura.

A sign encouraging people to eat oranges shows the importance of the horticulture industry to the Sunraysia region.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Lauren Henry)

Gadd described the signs as beautiful and unique.

"They are reflective of Mildura's identity, so unlike the T and G or Cottees, these are unique Sunraysia signs," he said.

"It is partly because of these signs that I'm in Mildura, because it is quite famous in the ghost sign community.

"It was almost the first thing I did when I came to Mildura. They are a great drawcard and the city should be proud of them."

A historic ETA sign, painted over the top of an even older Velvet soap sign — a recent revelation in Mildura's CBD due to renovations to a shop in Lime Avenue — was also an interesting stop on the tour.

"I reckon the ETA sign was painted in the 1950s, but the one underneath for Velvet Soap is older," Gadd said.

A sign for ETA peanut butter, which has been painted over a Velvet Soap sign, was uncovered on the side of building in Lime Avenue.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Lauren Henry)